The invention concerns a deck fastener for securing deck boards together and to a supporting member, and deals more particularly with a deck fastener which does not protrude from the deck surface.
Brackets, clips, and anchors for securing boards to joists without nail or screw heads protruding from the deck surface are known. However, some of these deck fastening systems require securing devices which are difficult to install or require extensive preparation, such as preinstalling tracks on joists, predrilling slots or holes in boards for fasteners, or gluing the boards to the joists. Other deck fastening systems must be installed from below the deck, a time consuming, expensive, and, depending upon the location of the deck, sometimes impossible procedure.
While these deck fastening systems are designed to prevent nails or screws from appearing on the deck surface, many of the parts of the systems are quite apparent from beneath the deck. Since a deck is often located over a cellar entrance or off a second floor, the underside of such a deck is also in view, and the display of protruding fasteners and/or other components is unsightly and possibly dangerous.
Since deck boards are subject to warping, splitting and shrinking, some of the known deck fastener systems do not prevent the deck boards from separating from the support joists over time. The fasteners also can come loose or become out of position on the joists. The separating of the boards from the joists may allow the boards to protrude above the deck surface, making the deck unsightly and less usable.
The object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide an improved deck fastener which, among other desirable attributes, significantly reduces or overcomes the above-mentioned deficiencies of prior deck fasteners, and which in particular is relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture and is easy to use.
The invention resides in a fastener for securing a first board to an underlying supporting member and to at least one other board running adjacent and parallel to the first board. The fastener has a thin flat body portion having front and rear faces, with a first prong extending outwardly from the front face of the body portion for driving into a first board. The fastener also includes a second prong extending outwardly from the rear face of the body portion for penetrating a second board, with the second prong running adjacent and parallel to, and in a direction opposite from, that of the first prong. The body portion of the fastener has an opening for receiving through the opening a shank portion of a connector which is inclined to and passes through the body portion, with the connector also having a head portion which engages the body portion adjoining the opening, for fastening the fastener to a supporting member which supports and underlies the first and second boards.
A further feature of the invention is that a third prong extends outwardly from a bottom edge of the body portion of the fastener for spacing the body portion of the fastener away from the supporting member so that the fastener and the attached first board can be drawn down to the supporting member during installation of the connector in the event the first board is slightly raised from the supporting member when the fastener is driven into the first board.
Another feature of the invention is the approximately conical shape of the opening so that a head of the connector, such as a screw, can be partially inserted within the opening to reduce the amount of screw head protruding from the opening and thereby permit a close positioning of adjoining boards.